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The owner of one of the three buildings that were destroyed by fire in downtown St. John's on Wednesday says the disaster won't put an end to his business plans.

Justin Daniels, the owner of Our Pleasure, a sexual health store, was getting ready to open a new outlet on Duckworth Street before flames tore through the building.

Daniels said he had done about $50,000 worth of renovations on the building, and he was about four weeks away from opening when the fire happened.

"We've been working on the interior since May with a four-man crew basically to take apart the whole inside and build all new structure in the old building that was there, and put back everything to code."

Road re-opening

Meanwhile, the city of St. John's said the section of Duckworth Street from McBride's Hill to New Gower Street, that was closed by the fire, will reopen for traffic on Saturday at noon.

Officials said Bate's Hill will remain closed, with an update next Friday at noon.

Downtown retail space scarce, says owner

Daniels said it has been difficult to find retail space in downtown St. John's, but he's trying to take the setback in stride.

"I'm one of those guys that things roll off my back pretty easily," said Daniels. "It's one project that I won't complete right now, but there's another project that I've got to tackle."

Daniels expects Our Pleasure will have a new downtown location eventually but until investigators, insurance companies and the city have done their work, he doesn't know if it will be on Duckworth Street.